Senate considering amendment that would eliminate ethanol subsidy

The U.S. Senate may vote as early as today on an amendment that would eliminate one of the major government subsidies for the production of corn-based ethanol.
The Hill reports:

The Senate is slated to vote on Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-Okla.) plan to eliminate a major ethanol industry tax break and the ethanol import tariff.

Ethanol backers are battling the amendment and seeking to pull support from Coburn.

Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) are floating legislation that would phase out the credit while maintaining other incentives.

Their plan would end the 45-cent per gallon ethanol blender’s credit (which is slated to expire at year’s end), but maintain a smaller and “variable” blender’s credit for three years.

Those who grow corn and those who make ethanol love this subsidy, but many experts say that it drives up the price of food and skews agricultural land use toward corn that would be better used for other crops, all with little to no benefit for the environment.